The ITC President’s Message

President’s Letter

Kurt, President (2016-2018)

Dear ITC Members and Friends,

I would like to start by acknowledging the contribution of, and expressing my and the Council’s thanks to, Professor Nathalie Loye, for her leadership in the organization of the 11th Conference of the ITC (“On the Beat of Testing!”), which took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in July 2018. The conference was a great success; the conference report will be ready shortly and confirms what we have all felt there on the ground. We all need to thank Professor Nathalie Loye from Université de Montréal and her unbelievable team. I would put the quality of the congress/convention against any in our profession! The next ITC conference (July 2020, Luxembourg) is in the very capable hands of Professor Samuel Greiff, from the Université du Luxembourg, as Chair of the Local Organizing Committee and Aletta Odendaal as Chair of the Conference Committee of the ITC.

One of the ways that the conference is helped to be a success is through the contributions of our sponsors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them directly. These include our Diamond sponsors (Buros Center for Testing and Pearson Assessments), our Platinum sponsors (the Graduate Management Admission Council and cApStAn), our Gold sponsors (Yardstick Assessment Strategies, Educational Testing Service, the British Psychological Society, and MHS Assessment), and our Silver sponsors (ACT Next, Paragon Testing Enterprises, Hogan Assessment, eMetric, PSI Services, Taylor & Francis, and the American Psychological Association). Each of these sponsors not only helped the conference succeed by their donations, but their presence at booths in a central location at the conference help educate participants as well. Please accept our thanks for your involvement and your presence in our profession!

The ITC has always relied on the voluntary involvement of our dedicated and visionary members, who serve on Council, or in our various committees and task forces. Their work and involvement in our professional community is much appreciated.

I would therefore like to say a formal “thank you” to those who have now left the Council or have assumed new positions. April Zenisky has retired from her position as Editor of the newsletter, but she is continuing on the Council as our new Treasurer. Paula Elosua also leaves her position as a member of the Council to become Secretary-General. Aletta Odendaal moves from her position as Secretary-General to that of President-Elect. All three of these individuals were elected this spring and summer. Dr. Nicola Hayes of Great Britain has become our new Editor of Testing International, the ITC newsletter. Professor Dragos Iiescu had a superb term as President of the ITC and as I write this letter, I know what a large shadow he caste and how difficult it is to follow him. Dragos is now a Fellow of the International Test Commission – an acknowledgement, which is nevertheless too small for how much he has contributed. He continues to serve on the Council as a co-opted member, the only way the Past President can stay on the Council, something I believe should be changed! Keeping aware of the history is a key element of any association, I hold.

I would also like to publicly extend our welcome to those who have started their term on Council and in other positions. I want to thank all those who stood for election, and I wish to congratulate Professors Steven G. Sireci and Solange Wechsler from the United States and Brazil, respectively, who were elected to the Council. At the first meeting of the new Council following the General Meeting in Montreal, the Council agreed on the co-option of Kadriye Ercikan, Peter Macqueen, and Wayne Camara, to join Dragos Iliescu on the Council. Stephen Stark continues presently as Editor of the International Journal of Testing. Drs. Ann Watts and Jacques Gregoire will continue in their quality of liaisons for IUPsyS and IAAP respectively. Finally, I would like to use my report this time to say ‘thank-you’ to one major person whose term of office has ended. It is a terrible loss for Professor David Bartram to leave the Council. He served as President for two different terms and as Secretary-General as well. We are pleased to know that Dave’s health is returning and he plans to join us at our next meeting in Luxembourg. As much as anyone in the history of ITC, he embodies ITC.

The chairs of the committees will be providing updates on their work to you through the ITC Newsletter. Please remember to let us know if you change your email address. I would suggest that you send such information to our Office Manager and all-round organizing angel: Ananda van Tonder (ananda.vantonder@googlemail.com).

The ITC has many interesting projects. On an on-going basis, we will continue to focus on our biennial conferences, and on the Journal and the Newsletter as important outputs. We are now involved in publishing a number of ITC books and Dragos Iliescu’s recent volume, Adapting Testing in Cultural and Linguistic Situations was only recently published and as I write this letter is currently in my briefcase, awaiting my careful reading and study. A number of new Guidelines are also in preparation, as well as revisions of older guidelines. New and exciting projects are starting just now and will be communicated to our members on a continuous basis, through both the ITC Newsletter and the ITC website (intestcom.org).

The next meeting of the ITC Council will be held in May 2019 in a place soon to be determined. The Council decided to continue to meet as an entire Council, but to move the meeting from July to May and to have some people choose to be present via on-line connections, all to save time and money. As part of this Council meeting, we have planned for a brainstorming and strategic analysis session in which to discuss the future evolution and projects of the ITC. If you have any ideas or suggestions for improving the way in which the ITC serves you and our professional community, please get in touch.